Modern Management: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success

Agile approaches have downplayed the role of management. Too many people say, “We don’t need no stinkin’ managers.” On the contrary. We need managers to create and refine the agile culture and create leadership capability across the organization. Without modern management, any agile transformation dies a quick and ugly death. Instead, it’s time to invite managers to change their behaviors to transform to an agile culture. Learn to see and create management excellence for your agile culture.

Transcript

1. Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   www.jrothman.com
   Modern Management:
   Adapt How You Lead for Agile
   Success
   

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2. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Why do people think we don’t
   need managers in agile approaches?
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3. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Too much of what passes for “management”
   has little to do with leadership and
   everything to do with control.
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4. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Why Management Exists
   • Manage themselves before they manage
   anyone else
   • Create a harmonic whole by leading and
   serving others
   • Every organization exists for one
   reason: Innovation
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5. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Principles for All Managers
   1. Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your organization.
   2. Build empathy with the people who do the work.
   3. Build a safe environment.
   4. Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal.
   5. Encourage experiments and learning.
   6. Catch people succeeding.
   7. Exercise your value-based integrity.
   Note: I did not add transparency or communication. If you manage with these principles, you will be as
   transparent as is possible and you will communicate effectively.
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6. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Resource Efficiency vs Flow Efficiency
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7. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Our Agenda
   • Great managers manage themselves first (Think)
   • Great managers serve and lead others (Feel)
   • Great managers create an environment of innovation (Act)
   • A little about how rewards drive behavior
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8. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   1. Great Managers Manage Themselves
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   Satir Congruence Model
   

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9. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
   @johannarothman
   Congruence
   • Blaming: Disregard Other
   • Placating: Disregard Self
   • Super-Reasonable: Consider Only
   Context
   • Irrelevant: Consider Neither Self,
   Other, or Context
   • Congruent: Balance Self, Other and
   Context
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   Satir Congruence Model
   

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10. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Manage Yourself Myths
    • Managers are more valuable than other
    people.
    • Managers must solve the team’s problem
    for them.
    • Managers are too valuable to take a
    vacation.
    • Managers can still do significant technical
    work. (Or, player-coach works.)
    • Managers can estimate for the team.
    • Managers micromanage to see state.
    • Managers think the team needs a
    cheerleader.
    • Managers don’t admit mistakes.
    • Managers can concentrate on the run.
    • Managers expect people to bring
    solutions to problems.
    • Managers believe in indispensable
    employees. (Or “10X”)
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11. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Myths Violate Value-Based Integrity
    • Honesty
    • Fair
    • Consistent
    • Take responsibility
    • Treat people with respect
    • Create safety for yourself and others
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12. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Principles for Managing Yourself
    • Clarify your purpose. Where do you add value?
    • Build empathy with the people who do the work.
    Delegate technical work.
    • Build a safe environment. Admit when you don’t
    know.
    • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an overarching goal.
    Focus on the whole, not on a part. Delegate
    problems and outcomes.
    • Encourage experiments and learning. Offer coaching,
    not solutions.
    • Catch people succeeding.
    • Exercise your value-based integrity as a model for the
    people you lead and serve.
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13. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Manage Yourself:
    Move from Expert to Coach
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14. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    2. Great Managers Lead and Serve Others
    • “Managing” others is about leading and serving.
    • Leading and serving != directing and controlling
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15. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    People Remember How They Felt
    • Think back to the best manager you
    had. How did you feel when you worked
    there?
    • Do you remember the work or the
    teams?
    • Take just one of your terrible managers.
    How did you feel when you worked
    there?
    • Do you remember any of the work,
    except to remember how you felt about
    it?
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16. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Outdated Management Assumptions Color
    Management Actions
    • People can do the job
    • People can master the challenges
    • People can take responsibility for the
    work and the relationships
    • … and more
    • People might need support or training,
    but they can.
    • People live up or down to your
    expectations of them
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17. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Theory Y Thinking Enables Management Integrity
    • Honesty
    • Fair
    • Consistent
    • Take responsibility
    • Treat people with respect
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18. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Lead & Serve Others Myths
    • No limit to the number of people you can
    manage.
    • People don’t need feedback.
    • Measure busy-ness, not outcomes.
    • Managers want to know the people are
    engaged.
    • Thinking isn't work.
    • Performance reviews or other evaluations
    are useful. (They are not. They damage
    relationships and performance.)
    • People don’t need credit for their work.
    • Hiring shortcuts are fine.
    • People are resources. (No, they are not.)
    • We need experts for this work.
    • Promote the best technical person to be a
    manager
    • You can keep even marginally-useful people
    on a team.
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19. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    When Managers Don’t Lead & Serve…
    • Incongruent
    • Lack of respect
    • Insufficient empathy
    • Work feels like drudgery
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20. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Principles for Leading and Serving Others
    • Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your
    organization. What value does your team offer?
    • Build empathy with the people who do the
    work. Offer autonomy, mastery, purpose.
    • Build a safe environment. Teach feedback and
    coaching.
    • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an
    overarching goal. Use flow efficiency.
    • Encourage experiments and learning.
    • Catch people succeeding.
    • Exercise your value-based integrity.
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21. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Lead and Serve Others:
    From Individual to Team
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22. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    3. Great Managers Lead for Innovation
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    “...every organization---not just businesses---
    needs one core competence: innovation.”
    — Peter Drucker
    

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23. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Where Do Managers Spend Time?
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24. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Organizational Leadership Myths
    • Great management looks easy so it is
    easy
    • Treat everyone the same way
    • Performance management creates
    employee engagement (It does not!)
    • Comparing teams is useful
    • “Friendly” competition is constructive
    • 100% utilization works
    • No time for training
    • It’s okay to move people wherever they
    need to go, whenever the manager
    wants.
    • Lower salaries means lower project cost
    • Manage by spreadsheet
    • It’s a great idea to standardize on how
    people work (especially their agile
    approach.)
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25. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Embrace the Organization’s “Messiness”
    • Define the organization’s “Why”
    • Iterate on the strategy
    • Plan for change
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26. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Innovation Principles
    • Clarify purpose, for you, your team, your
    organization. Why does your organization exist?
    • Build empathy with the people who do the
    work. Reduce bureaucracy.
    • Build a safe environment. How easy is it to
    disagree on anything?
    • Seek outcomes by optimizing for an
    overarching goal. Fulfill the why.
    • Encourage experiments and learning.
    • Catch people succeeding.
    • Exercise your value-based integrity.
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27. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Lead an Innovative Organization:
    From Managing Change to Managing
    for Change
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28. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Culture Drives Behaviors
    • Kurt Lewin said: B = f(P, E)
    • People (P) perceive the environment
    (E)
    • We choose to Behave (B) in ways that
    fit the environment
    • What does your organization reward?
    • Individual work (resource efficiency)
    • Team-based work (flow efficiency)
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29. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Managers Create & Refine the Culture
    • For everyone as individuals, in teams, and in groups
    • (Schein discusses artifacts, values, and assumptions)
    • How people treat each other
    • What people can discuss
    • How the manager and organization rewards people
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30. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    “The Culture of any organization is shaped by the worst
    behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.”
    — Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker, School Culture Rewired, ch.3
    (2015)
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31. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Build Your Agile Management Habits
    • Progress, not perfection!!
    • Behaviors before beliefs
    • Start with yourself
    • Remember that people remember
    how you make them feel
    • If you don’t know the “why” nothing
    else matters.
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32. © 2020 Johanna Rothman
    @johannarothman
    Let’s Stay in Touch
    • Pragmatic Manager:
    • www.jrothman.com/
    pragmaticmanager
    • Please link with me on LinkedIn
    • Modern Management Made Easy (in-
    progress):
    • https://leanpub.com/b/
    modernmanagementmadeeasy
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